The present application relates generally to a technology that may be used to assist in predicting merchant volatility, and more particularly, to network-based systems and methods for analyzing and comparing businesses based on gratuity information acquired from those businesses.
A gratuity, also referred to as a tip, is an amount of money tendered by a customer to a person associated with a merchant (e.g., an employee) as a way of thanking the person for a service performed. The tip is an amount of money in addition to the base price of the service or the goods purchased by the customer. Tipping is a widely practiced social custom in the United States and is usually voluntary.
For example, tips may be generally given for services performed by employees at restaurants, golf courses, hotels, spas and salons, casinos, barber shops, as well as to taxi drivers, movers, and the like. Higher tips may be given for excellent service while smaller tips or no tip at all may be given for poor service. In the United States, certain types of employees, such as waiters and waitresses in a restaurant, may rely mostly on tips for income because their employers are allowed to pay them less than minimum wage with the expectation that the employee's income will be supplemented by tips.
Tipping is also able to provide insight into a financial outlook for an area, for example, an indication as to whether a community is flourishing or dwindling financially. For example, if an average tipping amount in a particular area is trending upward it may be reasonable to assume that the community in that area is likewise trending upward financially.
Furthermore, for an entity (i.e. a person or company) interested in opening or purchasing a business, it might be beneficial for that entity to know the financial outlook in an area where they desire to open or purchase a business. Accordingly, tipping data may be one source of information used by an entrepreneur to determine the financial outlook of the area in which they desire to open or purchase a business.
Potential employees and business owners/purchasers can benefit greatly from financial information about future employment or business acquisitions. Accordingly, new financial information gathering technology and new financial information about merchants and groups of merchants which are located in a particular geographic area is desirable.